Friday, April 28, 2006

Craig Simpson entered the private entrance avoiding the front desk of the small office of his blood brother, Thaddeus Newman, a meticulous goal oriented young man. They had been friends since childbirth. Born in the same year and their mother’s closer than anything, Craig was the brother Thaddeus never had.

They were like night and day. Not much could rile Craig to anger, but everything seemed to make Thaddeus an active volcano. Craig had always seen Thaddeus angry or emotional about something. While in Craig’s case, he may become pique or even bothered, but never screaming mad.

Even though Thaddeus had played football all his life until he had torn a major cartilage in his knee in a Rose Bowl Game when he played in college for the University of Michigan. Ruining his football career. He still received a master’s in business management and opened up his own real estate redevelopment and construction company. Being a black businessman in an industry filled with the majority, his success was noted all over the country. He had business ventures in five major cities, but based his business in Detroit, Michigan.

Craig on the other hand had excelled in high school ROTC. After serving eight years in the Army, he joined Detroit’s police force becoming a detective in Illegal Operations for Western District.

When he entered the office, Thaddeus was on the phone. Craig caught his light cinnamon eyes and nodded him toward the nearest chair across his desk. Craig waited patiently as the large frame blood brother discussed meeting some potential customers tomorrow at the bookstore café in the strip mall he enjoyed to visit.

Once off the phone, he called Trisha, his assistant in the front of the office to enter the appointment in his planner. He coolly turned his attention to Craig.

“So what’s up, Bro?” Thaddeus asked leaning back in the chair.

Craig could hear the chair protesting the weight and pitied the chair. “My sergeant wants to speak with you. He’s waiting in the private entrance. I didn’t want to come through the front because I didn’t want Trisha to know we were here.”

He frowned displeased by this surprised. Thaddeus did not like surprises and his strong fingers drummed irritably on the table clearly showing his upset. Craig never visited him at work, wanting to always keep the knowledge of them being close private to others because of Craig’s job and Thaddeus many contacts.

Even when he called Thaddeus at work he used Mr. Smith so no one could put two and two together about Thaddeus Newman and Craig Simpson.

“Look Thaddeus if you don’t then don’t, but I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t important to me and the force.”

Thaddeus calmed down a bit noting the serious look in Craig’s pitch black eyes. “Fine, show the sergeant in.” He pressed the button.

“Trisha please hold my calls, I’m busy with some paperwork and I don’t want to be disturbed.”

“Yes, Mr. Newman,” her soft pitch clear diction answered back.

Soon, a gruff looking man entered the office. At five feet ten, Sergeant

Bill Nolan had a girth that clearly showed he missed no meals.

They shook hands as he sat in the other chair next to Craig looking in awe at the young man behind the desk.

Leaning on the desk after everyone sat down, Thaddeus said, “Alright Sergeant Nolan, what is it you want from me?”

Sergeant Nolan decided not to mince words with this large businessman. He had been a fan of his football season, and to sit in front of him now was almost an honor. He got right down to business. “Most of what we have to go on about this case is speculation and from leads, taps, and street sources. Trevor Coleman Sr. a.k.a. Cole Forsythe better known as Fats, has been in the underground business for about five years or more. He literally corners the drug market in the Metro Detroit Area. One of the most popular drugs, which have been the bulk of his wealth, has been GHB, the popular date rape drug. He controls the market in distribution, but this of course is only hearsay. Last year, we tracked him to Venezuela, where we suspected him of buying steroids, then to Chatham in Canada. Here our agents assumed he was stocking up on the party drug, Ecstasy. We have gathered supposed evidence of his Internet commerce, where we believe he is buying key ingredients for GHB. We track him down, arrest him, and have to release him at least ten times in the past twelve months, while our prosecutor’s charge him.”

“Until recently, no Michigan State Police chemist knew how to test for gamma hydroxybutryate, which is what GHB stands for,” Craig added. “He’s done his operations so well, we are having a tough time finding out if he does have any connections to these crimes and it’s no field testing of GHB on the street, so when his people who are connected to him, or even Fats himself is caught with the drug, or ingredients to make GHB we can’t fully charge him until the lab results come back, which won’t be until two to three months from now. The more we wait for the prosecution, the little our case will weigh against his lecherous attorneys.”

The sergeant continued explaining, “Fats and other wealthy crime bosses in other cities are donating large sums of money into private non-profit scientific research of late, on neuron-chemicals that may affect the brain. He uses his import/export business as a front to do his underground dealings and money laundering.”

“This is all word of mouth, right? Because if you had proof of this we wouldn’t be here discussing this.” Thaddeus questioned.

Craig nodded a bit frustrated. “We’ve been on the case for about four years and we can’t make anything stick to him or his organization. Initially, Fats was heavily into prostitution, but it’s becoming ever increasingly hard to track down all his women when he isn’t getting them off the streets.”

“Call girls?” Thaddeus suspected out loud.

“You could say that . . .” Craig said rather evasively. “From my resources, he’s gotten a way totake everyday women and control them at a level of subconscious behavior where these women have no idea what they are doing.”

Thaddeus looked in clear disbelief. His cinnamon eyes actually flickering in skepticism, from the sergeant to Craig. “This is all hearsay and I’m suppose to prove it?”

“Yes and no.” Craig knew Thaddeus would catch on quickly. “You see we know Fats have been using his connections approaching well-to-do gentlemen for services. Most have denied. Others when we’ve approached them have not been acceptable to the situation. We’ve decided two things: either find a john to testify or find a prostitute we can get to testify and identify the major players who are helping Fats.”

“Most definitely. You want me to be a john and get a legitimate solicitation from him, then see if I can investigate the girl?” Outwardly, he seemed uncomfortable about the idea.

“Yes, except we need you to just prod the girl for information and we will do the investigation.” Sergeant Nolan said statically.

He frowned something fierce enough to put fear into anyone who didn’t know him well enough. Thaddeus seemed quite displeased at the fact Craig would even consider him. His integrity in the community could be demolished if any of this was leaked. He had worked sweat and teeth to get to where he was not only financially, but also business-wise and the very idea that he could be in cahoots with a loan shark, drug-dealing pimp would destroy his career and life.

“Trust me, Mr. Newman, we wouldn’t approach a man of your position in the community if we didn’t think Fats would be highly interested in you. You’d be a great contact and he’d be positively gullible to your every request, without getting suspicious,” Sergeant Nolan explained.

“Which is?”

“Before we get into details we need to know if you are willing to do this.”

Thaddeus rubbed his hands together slowly deep in thought. “So I would be requesting the service of a woman for . . .”

“A night of course.”

“And would have to . . . perform?”

“No, of course not. You’d have two choices: talk or we can provide you with a sleep-induced agent, which we believe has only a raggedness side effect to the chemical we believe she could be taking. Meaning she’d awake with a hangover or grogginess.”

“And how many sessions would this require?”

Craig answered him, “Four to five is the maximum. Once a week. Maybe even less. We want to first try to get information out of her. When Fats feel things are going well, the contact we have at his side now, can go in with a wiretap and discuss the arrangements he has with you. We’ll have the discussion on tape and we can hold him on solicitation of prostitution. We need some substantial way to retain him so he won’t flee the country, which we feel he might do if he knows we are on to him with proof. We will draw a sample of her blood and some other tests to find out her history, her identity and a try to find out exactly how she was chosen and how the drugs really work. She of course will be asleep. Once we establish we won’t need her anymore or she doesn’t test positive for the GHB substance, we will leave her alone.”

“Throw her to the curb?”

“Sort of. Hopefully when this is all over, if the drug we suspect they’ve given her really does what we’ve heard, she won’t be mentally disturbed. We do ask that you be careful and remember the woman probably does not know what she is doing.”

Thaddeus couldn’t believe it all, yet the more they spoke so real about it, everything seemed to be slowly sinking in. “How does the drug control anyone? I must know.”

Sergeant Nolan looked a little lost as he tried to give details so Thaddeus could understand.“Somehow, it easily controls a female. We’ve had experts come in and try to explain the possibility and at first we were even doubtful about it, yet there were too many stories coming back to us from secret informants about these strange experiments. Women had started turning up dead on the street with GHB running through their system and the ones that we did find alive were so out of it, they couldn’t tell reality from dreams.” He paused a moment, shaking his head as if trying to get the horrible scenes of what he had seen out of his head. “We haven’t discovered the true details to all of this and like you said this is really all hearsay and predictions, because even the doctors we have obtained for knowledge say that a lot of chemist have thought of the possibility of a mind controlling drug, but no ones been successful at creating it.”

“Well, there’s truth serum and other things that prevent us from lying,” Craig said. “But the doctors said the idea was so farfetched they couldn’t fathom it being produced.”

“We’re obtaining our own Neuro-Psychologist soon, then we can all better understand exactlywhat is going on with these women,” Sergeant Nolan said confidently. “If this is possible, innocent unsuspecting women in our community could be devastated by the effects. We want to stop it before it becomes widespread and we really need your help, Mr. Newman.”

Thaddeus didn’t think twice and nodded. “I will help.”

Craig sighed relieved. “You won’t regret it, Thad. The precinct is willing to agree to take all responsibilities so any individuals won’t sue you.”

“Well that’s reassuring.” His tone was surly.

The sergeant pulled out an envelope. “We’ve set up an apartment at the River Place Towers in Downtown. We’d like you to reside there because we’ve rigged the apartment already with special microphones. Now we know and understand your privacy and we respect it. There is a green button on the bottom of the remote, which mutes the room you are in, but we do request you leave this on at all times when having any discussions with the woman. Especially when you’re trying to get information from her. We have a van surveying out in the parking lot if any strangers come there unannounced and we’ve practiced getting to your apartment in less than eight minutes from our positions.”

Thaddeus nodded feeling only slightly secure, while Craig relaxed a little more. He didn’t think Thaddeus would be at all susceptible to the idea.

Sergeant Nolan handed Thaddeus a brown envelope. “This envelope contains the different keys you need for your apartment—each one labeled, the legal papers we’d like you to drop in the mail and the first payment we know Fats will probably request. Don’t negotiate, accept his terms.”

“How will I meet him?” Thaddeus asked.

Craig explained, “The inside contact will tell Fats you’re interesting in unique entertainment.You’re wealthy single and just looking for a little fun every Saturday. Someone you don’t have to scope for and someone you don’t want to share. You’re willing to pay heavy for it if he can give you what you like.”

“What will I like?”

“That’s up to you. We prefer requesting the same girl and we hope the first one pleases you.”Thaddeus looked at Craig. “Do you think the contact could relay this? Pick out a decent one? I can deal with a lot of things but stupidity and ignorance will be very hard to tolerate.”

“We’ll really try,” Craig answered. “He will do all the arrangements for you, but I can’t guarantee you will like what you see, but according to the contact, he thinks he’s seen the next victim they are going to procure and you should be pleasingly appeased.”

He shrugged it off as if the woman didn’t matter. “Fine. When is the first meeting? Soon? This week?” There was impatience in his voice because he really wanted this over and done with.Sergeant Nolan shook his head. “No. Give us a week to get the ball rolling, but we would like you to move in by tomorrow. If need be, any of your numbers can be switched or rerouted on a moments notice.”

“This should not be problem. My mobile phone and pager are usually my real numbers outside the office.”

“Good.” The sergeant stood up. “Craig will be our go to man, but we suggest waiting until he makes contact with you. If perchance the police happen to take you in on solicitation and we aren’t around, ask for Mr. Aggie Smith as your public defender. Never contact Craig or I unless there is a life-threatening situation that regular law enforcement couldn’t understand. “

Thaddeus again nodded his understanding of the matter. “It was never my intention to speak to Craig again.” He shot his friend a vicious glare clearly stating with his glowing reddish-hued cinnamon eyes, 'I'll get you later.'

Craig knew Thad was kidding, but only because he’d known him for so long. And if he wasn't kidding, Craig hoped that Thaddeus' injury was acting up too much to try to chase him. A man of his size and girth should not go around with a frown on his face. It sent all the wrong messages.

“Well if there is nothing else,” Craig said breaking the supposed tension giving his blood brother a look of disgruntlement. “Your contact name is Pooh.”

“So why didn’t you want me to let him know any criminal activity by him will be pardoned as well?”

“And not see him killing himself over breaking the law?” he asked, fighting to keep a straight face, but he couldn’t for long and broke into laughter.

The sergeant didn’t find anything funny because although Craig knew his blood brother well, he didn’t, and knowing that the young man would be highly upset didn’t sit too well on his conscious, but he would trust the chap wouldn’t come after him.

If Thaddeus did decide to go after Craig, though, that would suit him and a couple of boys at the precinct just fine. Craig had pissed a lot of people off on the force with his loud mouth, sarcastic remarks, and arrogant overly playful attitude. The young detective probably needed a good beat down for a change.

Sergeant Nolan didn’t think Craig would be able to withstand a tackle from Thaddeus, although the young man’s demeanor would not suggest he could ever get that violent for no just cause. Thaddeus’ college days were quite well known to collegiate football fans. He had a great season before the last game that ended his career as a defensive lineman. He could get to a quarterback faster than lightening and everyone had predicted that he would be at least second round draft pick. Too bad that accident had ended what could have been a very successful career in the NFL.

Yet people were still proud of him. He had come back and made a real estate redevelopment business into a multimillion-dollar business then expanded to construction. Already he’d received several government and private contracts this year and Fortune magazine predicted by the end of the year his business would be worth over a hundred million dollars with the casino deal he had struck with MGM Grand and Motor City Casino.

Yes, the young man would be a success and when this was all over he would be a hero to the city of Detroit. Wiping out Fats would be a great asset to many community groups since his corrupt operations within them would be shut down.

6 comments:

Oooooohhhhh Yeahhh!!!!!Sylvia's back! I feel like Tome Cruise on the Oprah Winfrey show. LOL. I don't think I can wait for you to post the story. I can already this is gonna be a good one. I'll most definitely end up buying the book. Are the posted blogs gonna be really different from the original story? Either way, i don't care. I'll read em both.

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